All three Vikings quarterbacks were active Thursday night against the Washington Redskins, adding more intrigue to a saga that has no ending.

Matt Cassel knew he was backing up Christian Ponder so he was most prepared to step in when Minnesota's starter dislocated his shoulder late in the third quarter of the Vikings' 34-27 victory at the Metrodome.

Josh Freeman, however, remains a $2 million enigma following his ugly, unprepared performance Oct. 21 against the New York Giants, two weeks after the Vikings signed him following his acrimonious release from Tampa Bay.

"I'm making a lot of progress from my first game," Freeman said in the locker room. "I can't speak for the coaches. I can't speak for (head coach) Leslie (Frazier). I'm just working as hard as I can. When they need me to go in I plan to go in and play well, whenever that may be."

With seven games remaining, and Ponder now injured, Cassel appears poised to seize the reins again. He threw a pair of touchdown passes to deliver a Week 4 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in London after Ponder suffered a rib injury following Minnesota's 0-3 start.

The journeyman earned the start against Carolina coming out of the bye but tossed a pair of interceptions and promptly was benched in favor of the newly acquired Freeman. However, the 2009 first-round pick and former 4,000-yard passer for the Buccaneers completed just 20 of 53 passes for 190 yards, with one interception, for a ghastly 40.6 rating.

Freeman clashed with Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano and was benched before he was cut. But he is content to lay low as the Vikings quarterback carousel continues spinning.

"Nobody in the NFL doesn't want to be the starter," Freeman said in the Vikings' victorious locker room. "I'm fired up. It was a great team victory. It was great to see Christian go out and see what he did in the second half. The team kept battling. What a way to go out and finish."

Frazier was unwilling to commit to a starting quarterback when the Vikings return Week 11 at Seattle.

"We'll talk about that when we get back. I want to bask in the glory of this win before thinking about lineup changes," he said. "Matt was our No. 2 tonight. That's a different set of circumstances. We'll come back and evaluate what's best from a No. 1 standpoint."